According to the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA), the oilmeals export of India in April 2022 was reported provisionally at 3,33,972 tons, a rise over the previous year, during the same period. In the same month, in 2021, it was at 3,03,705 tons.
The SEA stated that oilmeals export in the last fiscal year went down from 36.8 lakh tons to 23.8 lakh tons. The value fell to Rs 5,600 crore from Rs 8,900 crore in FY 2020-2021.
However, in the present year (2022-2023), oilmeal exports are expected to be lower, according to a report published in The Economic Times.
Soy meal
SEA’s Executive Director, BV Mehta, told BusinessLine that in India, the rising meal prices are squeezing the margins of soybean crushing. Also, the expectations of the farmers from the soybean seed are quite high.
He further stated that at present, soybean is priced Rs 6,900 per quintal. In the global market, India is completely outpriced for soybean meal because of the spike in soybean prices in the domestic market.
He said that India is not expected to stay competitive in the coming 2-3 months for export because of this high price. Reduced soybean crushing is pushing India to import crude soyabean oil on a large scale.
Rapeseed meal
The unavailability of rapeseed to crush has also affected the rapeseed meal export over the last 3 months. During the initial months of last year, rapeseed export crashed heavily in India. Mehta said that rapeseed is easily available to crush, and a new crop will be available from the end of February or the beginning of March.
As per the data mentioned in The Hindu BusinessLine, in the first 10 months of 2021-2022, 7.29 lakh tons of rapeseed were exported by India. In 2020-2021, 9.9 lakh tons were exported. Thus, it means it has come down by 26.36%.
Ricebran
Mehta also said to the Economic Times that the extraction of rice bran is doing better because of demand from Bangladesh and Vietnam. About 5.79 lakh tons of rice bran extract was imported during April-January in 2021-2022 against 4.9 lakh tons during the initial months of 2020-2021. It grew by about 35.07%.
Castor seed meal of about 3.17 lakh tons was exported by India from April to January of 2021-2022. It was 2.67 lakh tons in the same period in 2020-2021.
The major importers of oilmeals
In April-January, South Korea imported about 35,446 tons of soybean meal. Vietnam imported 76,060 tons of rapeseed meal, 3,839 tons of soybean meal, 76,060 tons of rapeseed meal, and 440 tons of groundnut meal.
Bangladesh imported 229 tons of soybean meal. Thailand imported 1.44 lakh tons of oilmeals. Taiwan imported 1.17 lakh tons of oilmeals, and the USA imported 1.99 lakh tons of the same.
A lot of global developments may slightly affect the country’s economy. Among them are the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, sudden seasonal changes, and the crisis taking place in Sri Lanka.
